Tell HN: A realization about working for myself | Hacker News Reader

Tell HN: A realization about working for myself

6 pointstrickjarrett7 comments

So I have been a web developer for a while, since college I would pick up contract jobs, making sites for customers etc. And though it brought in some nice side income, I was never really driven to do it. I didn't wake up thinking about my client's websites. Part of this was that they were usually simple projects, never really web apps, just simple websites or blogs.

With my recent project Shove.mobi, though it is just a week old, I realized something critical. This was something I wanted, for me, and that I hoped might be useful to others. But largely, I was building it for myself.

I used to think, based on the motivation and lack of drive for contract work, that I wasn't really cut out to be self-employed. But I realize now that I'm not cut out as a freelance web designer/developer. I want to develop apps that I come up with or that I am passionate about.

Has anyone else had this realization moment?

I've had some of those moments, and then things change for me a bit. Been self-employed for a number of years now, primarily doing freelance web app development, but also some training, publishing, and a few other things. There's not been one thing that has yet clicked as my lifelong passion, but that's been OK. I didn't find things clicked when I was taking fulltime w2 gigs either, so it's not been much of a change in that respect.

Congrats on finding that moment for yourself - I hope it lasts for you :)

"I didn't wake up thinking about my client's websites."

No, but I wake up knowing that I have the freedom to wake up anytime I want, be it 8am or 2pm.

What's even more fun is being so excited that you wake up early to work on your own project.

Really? I can never work on projects when I wake up, I don't know why, but I need about an hour or two of other activities (such as watching youtube) before my brain can get to work.

I have been doing freelance work for about 4 -5 years now. I am coming to the conclusion that I would like to work on a signal project/product without the burden of reporting hours.

I hate having to always explain to someone what I did for the last 8 hours.

It's also a completely different experience to see something through beyond launch, and refine it over the course of many years.

I had a somewhat similar experience. Working on various projects for specific clients isn't so exciting. Although I must admit I learned the most from it, but I never felt that it's what I'm cut out to do.

I think the difference between working on an application vs doing a contract work is having someone mandate to you what you have to do and when you have to do it, vs deciding yourself what you want to work on.

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